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An Amerks opening night to forget; ugly, ugly, ugly

Well, wasn't that fun. The Rochester Americans opened their American Hockey League team on Friday night and looked like they had no idea who anyone else was on their bench, let along that they ever had

The Rochester Americans opened their American Hockey League season on Friday night and looked like they had no idea who anyone else was on their bench, let alone like they ever had practiced together.

Ugly? You bet it was. Like orangutan mates with afghan hound kind of ugly.

The Amerks lost 8-1 to the Grand Rapids Griffins -- and deservedly so.

As misleading as the score was Wednesday night when the parent teams -- the Buffalo Sabres lost 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings -- opened their seasons in the Motor City, Friday's touchdown-and-extra-point margin in downtown Rochester was an accurate appraisal.

The Griffins executed in all zones, especially in their own and on transition through the neutral zone.

The Amerks, not so much. Or not at all.

"They were making good plays and we weren't," winger Colton Gillies said. "That said, there are no excuses."

In 57 previous years of Amerks hockey, no Rochester team had ever ended up on the losing end of a more lopsided loss in the season opener.

The worst Game 1 loss (home or road) before tonight came in 2004-05, when the Amerks lost 7-2 on home ice to the Manitoba Moose. The Amerks ended up with the AHL's best regular-season record that season.

Goalie Matt Hackett didn't make it out of the second period tonight. When rookie defenseman Ryan Sproul drove a slap shot past him just after Calle Jarnkrok faceoff win at 16:37 of the second period, coach Chadd Cassidy called him to the bench. He stopped 24 of 30 shots.

With the Amerks down 6-1, Nathan Lieuwen took over and gave up a goal on the first shot he faced, a fairly nothing wrister from Mitch Callahan in the left circle.

Hackett was hardly the reason the Amerks lost. The Griffins were nearly at a shot-per-minute pace when he left.

"Obviously he wasn't what we want him to be but we didn't give him much help," Cassidy said. "I think he makes a lot of those saves on a night when we play better."

Perhaps the best thing about the night: The Amerks don't play again until next Friday. That's an entire week to savor the taste of a horrible loss on home ice.

One of the Amerks biggest problems was denying prime space to the Griffins. They had no difficulty escaping or evading defenders in the slot or between the circles.

"We didn't do a very good job protecting the middle of the ice," captain Matt Ellis said. "We had some fly-bys."

There really wasn't a way to point out which Amerks player performed more poorly than another. As for tangible stats, defenseman Drew Bagnall and partner Alexander Sulzer were on the ice for five Griffins goals.

Along with looking a little lost, the Amerks also showed little composure. Mitch Callahan just played the feisty Mitch Callahan game and drew two penalties -- one on Bagnall, one on Frederick Roy -- that turned into power-play goals and gave the Griffins 1-0 and 4-0 leads.

The one Amerks goal was scored by Luke Adam as he converted an across-the-slot pass from Jerome Gauthier-Leduc at 13:01 of the second period. But 80 seconds later the Adam-Phil Varone-Jamie Tardif line was on the ice when the Griffins got it back and opened a 5-1 lead.

"It shows we've got some work to do," Ellis said. "It wasn't pretty."

* * * * * * *

Sulzer headed to Buffalo immediately after the game because Sabres defenseman Henrik Tallinder suffered an upper body injury.

Sulzer cleared waivers on Monday. Waivers won't be required again for him to return to the Amerks unless he plays 10 games or spends 30 days in the NHL.

Staff writer:
Kevin Oklobzija covers Rochester’s two oldest professional sports teams, hockey’s Rochester Americans and baseball’s Rochester Red Wings. He has been at the rink for Amerks hockey since the 1985-86 season and, after providing backup Wings coverage for many years, is now the full-time beat writer. A native of Minnesota and a graduate of St. Cloud State University, Kevin arrived in Western New York in June of 1985 and never left. Apparently he likes it here. He still believes National Lampoon’s Vacation may be the best movie ever made.